Weldona's post office will not be closed

Hours reduction looming, though

Juan Munoz, standing, post office operations manager, tells Weldona area residents that while their post office will not be closing, hours will be reduced.
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"I'm not here to close your post office."

So said Juan Munoz, area manager of post office operations, as he opened a meeting with a couple of dozen Weldona area residents Tuesday at Weldon Valley School.

However, a reduction from eight hours to four hours a day appears inevitable.

Nearly everyone in the audience indicated by a show of hands a preference for 8 a.m. to noon hours. The office might also be open for a couple of hours on Saturday mornings, a handout distributed at the meeting indicated.

About 400 surveys were sent out before the meeting; only about 100 were returned, Munoz said.

"It's incumbent on the community to use the postal service," he said. If useage is insufficient, the hours could eventually be reduced to two hours a day.

An outside collection box will remain at the office, Munoz said, and pickup time there will probably remain 3:30 p.m.

He said that he would be discussing hours with Dani Stenger, who runs the Weldona post office. Her title is postmaster relief, and she receives no fringe benefits.

Stenger told The Fort Morgan Times after the meeting that she was not happy about the likelihood that her hours would be reduced from 40 to 20 a week.

A cut in hours appears likely at the Orchard post office; a meeting on that office is planned Feb. 14.

Several years ago the U.S. Postal Service considering closing numerous post offices in small communities, Munoz said.

"That was the wrong decision,' he said, adding that officials did not realize how much those offices were hubs for small communities.

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The postal service does not receive tax dollars, operating on revenue, and is losing about $25 million a day.

An audience member suggested that cutting out such things as cycling sponsorships would save money; that has already been done, Munoz said. Designer stamp costs could also be cut, it was suggested, but Munoz said he has had collectors get upset when they cannot get the latest stamps.

"In 2006, the bottom dropped out" on revenues, Munoz said, with a loss of about 40 billion pieces of first class mail.

"We attribute that to social media," he said, with many people doing personal and even business correspondence via computer networks.

April 15, the income tax deadline, used to be a big day, but no more. Munoz said-- many people e file rather than mailing in their tax forms.